


Intrude

by OzQueen



Series: babysitters100 [53]
Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Genre: Crushes, F/M, First Dates, Holding Hands, Movie Night, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 08:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3032705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OzQueen/pseuds/OzQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Hey, I’m gonna stay and watch the movie,” Kristy says. She glances at Janine. “If that's okay,” she adds.</p><p>Janine should feel disappointed about Kristy intruding on her afternoon of bonding with Claudia, but she doesn't. Instead, she says, “Of course,” and then turns to Charlie. “Would you like to watch it with us?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Intrude

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LuxKen27](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuxKen27/gifts).



> Ohhh I hope this is okay. I have tried to write Charlie/Janine for people numerous times, but I've never been able to make it work. So, fingers crossed this isn't completely terrible. :p
> 
> Also, there are massively heavy references to _Jaws_ throughout this, but don't worry if you haven't seen the movie or read the book - you shouldn't get lost. I also think I've managed to avoid major spoilers, if it's one of those books/movies you still mean to get to but haven't yet. (Seriously though DO IT, it's the best. Book and movie.)
> 
> Thank you as always to my wonderful beta [isquinnabel](http://archiveofourown.org/users/isquinnabel/works). I did play a little after she was done, so any remaining errors are of course mine.

* * *

 

It's raining hard, and the trees lining High Street are reaching their bare branches towards a dark, overcast sky. Another gust of wind sends the rain blowing in waves against the wide glass windows of the library.

Inside, it's warm and bright, and Janine is lingering between the shelves, browsing the books and waiting out the weather.

“Hey, Janine.”

She looks up from an outdated encyclopaedia to see Charlie Thomas smiling at her, raindrops dark on his coat.

“Hello,” she says, a little surprised to see him. “How are you?”

“Good thanks.” He glances at the book in her hands. “Studying?”

“Oh, no,” she says, sliding it back onto the shelf. “Just waiting out the rain.” She shifts her weight, unsure of what to say. For all the time their younger sisters have spent together over the years, she's barely got a handful of shared experiences with Charlie Thomas.

“Are you home for Christmas?” she asks.

“Yeah.” He looks down at the floor as he grins, lost for a moment in memory. “Sam and I have this thing where we watch Jaws whenever we end up back home together.” He shrugs and meets her eyes again. “Occurred to me I'd never read the book, so...” He holds up a copy of Peter Benchley's novel in his hands, the cover well worn and creased. “Have you read it?”

“No,” Janine says, suddenly feeling inadequate. “I haven't seen the movie, either.”

Charlie's eyes widen. “Seriously?”

“I'm not overly fond of the ocean anyway,” Janine admits. “It's fascinating from a scientific point of view, of course, and I hold admiration for the pure poetry and inspiration borne of the sea. The amount of romance it holds; the amount of myth and legend which has emerged from it – of course I find it all very intriguing. Still, I have not seen Jaws. I would find it difficult to enjoy a movie which is likely to be riddled with factual errors.”

Charlie just grins at her again. “Well, if you ever change your mind and want to borrow the video, let me know.”

She thinks later, as she watches the cursor on her computer screen blink back at her, that perhaps she had been a little rude. She makes up her mind to be more gracious next time, should Charlie converse with her once more.

 

* * *

 

“Have you seen Jaws?” Janine asks Claudia at breakfast the next day.

Claudia is slumped over a bowl of cornflakes sprinkled with an obscene amount of sugar. Her hair is frizzed up on one side. “Is that the one with the shark?” she asks. “You're not trying to ask me about Moby Dick or something instead, are you?”

“No,” Janine answers impatiently. “I mean Jaws. The one with the shark.”

“Uh, yeah I think so. Ages ago. I think I watched it at a sleepover at Kristy's house once?”

“Did you like it?”

“I don't know, Janine. It was a sleepover. Movies are usually just there to act as background noise while you gossip about boys you like and girls you don't.” She loads her spoon with another mouthful of cornflakes. “Why?”

“Someone recommended it to me yesterday, and I wanted a second opinion.”

Claudia raises herself a little, the hint of a pleased smile on her face. “Oh,” she says. “Well, yeah.” She shrugs. “I liked it. It kind of freaked me out though. And I know for a fact Dawn wouldn't set foot in the ocean for the rest of the summer.”

Janine takes a thoughtful bite of her toast and considers what a cruel irony it would be to be eaten by a shark when you're so vocal about vegetarianism and animal rights.

 

* * *

 

Janine sees Charlie again three days later, but there's no opportunity to talk. She's sitting at the lights, listening to an audiotape on black holes, and she sees him passing through the intersection in an unfamiliar silver car.

She wonders if he's finished reading Jaws yet, and if he liked it.

When the light turns green she decides to make a detour and stop by the library to see if they have another copy. Perhaps reading it will free her mind of the subject altogether.

 

* * *

 

It turns out they don't have another copy, but Janine lingers at the library anyway. She's still browsing through the biographies when she spots Charlie walk in the front door. He sheds his coat almost immediately – the library is always on the uncomfortable side of warm – and smiles at Janine's mother as he drops his book through the Returns slot.

Janine makes up her mind to fetch it and borrow it out herself. But not before she asks Charlie's opinion of it.

“Hello,” she says, stepping out from between the stacks to greet him.

“Jeez!” He jumps and claps a hand to his chest, and then he laughs. “Hi.”

“Did you like the book as much as the movie?” she asks.

“Yeah, I did. Different to the movie, though. They changed the ending, but I liked it.” He glances at the book in her hand. “What are you reading?”

“Oh, this is a biography on Valentina Tereshkova. I’ve already read it.” She places it back on the shelf. “I usually read non-fiction, or biographies. Claudia says I should try something different now and then.”

“Well, Jaws is over there waiting,” Charlie says, nodding towards the desk. “I'm here to find Jurassic Park now.”

“Oh, that one I’ve seen,” Janine says, not quite succeeding in keeping the disdain out of her voice.

Charlie, ever good-natured, just grins at her. “You didn't like it?”

“I found it frustrating,” she says. “Though I will admit I have not seen the full movie. Just portions of it here and there.”

“Well, Sam has read it and I haven't, and my competitive nature won't allow for that to continue, so...” He starts towards the fiction shelves, but he smiles at her over his shoulder. “I gotta be in and out, Janine. Let me know what you think of Jaws.”

 

* * *

 

She reads the book in one sitting. She will admit that there are moments with the shark which fill her with a delicious sense of dread and suspense, but it's the other storyline – with Brody's wife, and Hooper – which really catches her attention.

 

* * *

 

Claudia is sketching on her bed, WSTO at an unreasonable volume from the radio on her desk. Janine turns it down and earns herself a glare, but she holds the book out as a distraction.

“Are there sex scenes in the movie?” she asks Claudia in a low voice.

Claudia snatches it out of her hand. “No. Are there sex scenes in here? Oh my god, Janine. Does Mom know? Are they good, or are they stupid Harlequin scenes that don't include any detail?” She fans through the pages with her thumb.

“The book was more enjoyable than I thought it would be,” Janine says. “I thought I would watch the movie, but I wanted to check first as to whether or not there would be any explicit scenes.”

“I don't think there are,” Claudia says. “Pretty sure I'd remember that.” She raises an eyebrow at Janine. “Are you hoping for some steamy scenes to watch?”

“Hardly,” Janine answers, perhaps a touch too quickly. “Would you like to watch it with me? I believe I can get a loan of a copy from a friend.”

“Sure,” Claudia says, and she gives Janine a sunny smile, which makes Janine glad she asked.

Claudia holds the book up in her hands. “I'm gonna hang onto this for a little while,” she says, and she leans over and turns the radio up again.

 

* * *

 

Janine sits at her desk with sweaty palms, staring at the cordless phone propped next to her computer keyboard.

Any number of Thomas-Brewers could answer the phone. The odds of getting Charlie directly are quite unfavourable. Even if she did, she is unsure as to how to ask for a loan of the movie, even after he had offered it to her.

Suddenly she'd rather write a full thesis in two days than have to brave the telephone.

She goes to Claudia's room, tapping gently on the door.

There's a choking noise, following by a grunt possibly intended to sound enquiring. If a question mark could be vocalised, it would sound as such.

“It's Janine,” she says, picturing Claudia hastily trying to swallow whatever candy she is currently gorging herself on. “My friend can't find their copy of the movie. Do you think Kristy –?”

She cuts herself off as Claudia pulls the door open, her mouth contorting as she sucks chocolate from her teeth. “I'll ask,” Claudia says, gesturing Janine in. “D'you want some Reece's Pieces?”

“No, thank you.” Janine perches on the end of Claudia's bed, next to a heap of brightly-coloured clothes. She had only been intending on asking the question and then returning to the neater environment of her own bedroom, but Claudia has offered a chance to bond, and Janine accepts the invitation.

Jaws will be a shared experience between them. Janine doesn't have many shared experiences with Claudia, and she finds herself looking forward to the movie, expecting she will like watching it with Claudia more than she will like the plot.

She wonders briefly if she'll be able to call it a shared experience between herself and Charlie Thomas as well.

Claudia already has her phone pinned against her shoulder and is holding all of her fingers crossed.

“What are you doing?” Janine enquires.

“Praying Karen doesn't answer the phone,” Claudia mutters out of the side of her mouth. Then she visibly slumps in relief and gestures towards the ceiling with both her thumbs held high, mouthing a silent thank you.

“Hey, Charlie, it's Claudia Kishi,” she says, and if Janine were the sort of person to curse, she would have. “Is Kristy there?”

Janine looks around Claudia's room as they wait in silence for Kristy to come to the phone. The desk is buried under another heap of clothes. A shoebox full of beads, ribbons and shoelaces sits atop a messy stack of coloured paper on the desk chair. Another box is on the director's chair nearby, full of chunky wooden photo frames reclaimed from a second-hand store or garage sale.

“Hey, Kristy,” Claudia says, interrupting Janine's interested inspection of her surroundings. “Listen, I just finished reading Jaws. Do you still have the movie?”

Janine spots a bag of skittles inside a shoe on the floor, and the yellow spine of a well-worn Nancy Drew book showing beneath Claudia's pillow. She looks up to the painting of Mimi hanging above the bed, and gives her a little smile.

“That'd be great!” Claudia says into the phone. “I'll see you later.” She hangs up, and then says to Janine, “Kristy and Charlie are going to the nets today to practice hitting...” She trails off and shrugs, with a bit of an eyeroll thrown in for good measure. “They'll bring the movie over after that.”

“Oh,” Janine says, and even to her own ears she sounds pleased. “Great.”

Claudia gives her a strange look when she slides off the bed to leave, but she doesn't say anything, for which Janine is grateful.

She's unsure how she'd ever explain it – this strange, sudden need to have anything in common with Charlie Thomas.

 

* * *

 

Kristy and Charlie both have that wind-swept, slightly sweaty look which comes from being energetic outdoors. Janine can't help but feel envious of how well it suits them both.

Charlie wasn't going to come in, but she had waved at him through the kitchen window, feeling ridiculous and daring, and he had waved back at her before clambering out of the car to follow Kristy across the front lawn.

“Hey,” he says, lingering by the front door as Kristy races upstairs to find Claudia.

“Hello.” She is suddenly embarrassed about having her younger sister call the Thomas household to ask for the movie when she was perfectly capable of doing it herself. “Thank you for bringing the movie over,” she says.

“Oh, sure.” Charlie grins at her. “So did you like the book?”

“Much more than I was expecting,” she says, smiling back at him. “You said the ending in the movie is different.”

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna spoil it for you.” He looks up as Claudia and Kristy thump back down the stairs like a pair of six year olds.

“Hey, I’m gonna stay and watch the movie,” Kristy says. She glances at Janine. “If that's okay,” she adds.

Janine should feel disappointed about Kristy intruding on her afternoon of bonding with Claudia, but she doesn't. Instead, she says, “Of course,” and then turns to Charlie. “Would you like to watch it with us?”

Kristy rolls her eyes. “He knows it word for word.”

Charlie crosses his eyes at her, but he smiles wide at Janine. “Sure. Thanks.”

 

* * *

 

Claudia and Kristy take the good couch, and they wrap themselves up in a bright patchwork quilt Mary Anne had made for Claudia's sixteenth birthday.

Charlie slings himself down beside Janine on the smaller couch, and Janine focuses on pulling the other blanket around herself – not because she's cold, but because she isn't sure what else to do with her body, which is in such close proximity to his.

“Oh, wait, we need popcorn!” Claudia announces. “Don't start it yet!” She tears herself free and runs for the kitchen, and Kristy tuts and looks over to Charlie with a grin. She starts humming the theme tune, which Janine knows well enough without having seen the movie before.

“She looks cocky now,” Charlie says, tilting his head towards Janine and speaking in a low voice, “but you watch her jump at all the scary bits later.”

“Shut up,” Kristy mutters, but she has a grin on her face that matches Charlie's.

Janine wonders how many times they've watched this movie together.

Claudia brings in two bowls of popcorn, the buttery scent drifting in after her, and they start the movie.

Janine thinks of all those clichéd movie tropes about couples brushing hands in darkened rooms; secretive smiles shared with sideways glances (always by people who absolutely do not wear glasses which unfairly and overwhelmingly reflect the light of the television); and the pretend yawn-and-stretch movement which ends with a manly arm settled across delicate shoulders.

None of those things happen as the first poor victim is dragged shrieking through the water. During the autopsy scene, Janine thinks for a moment on how Richard Dreyfuss looks nothing like how she imagined Hooper should look, and watches out of the corner of her eye as Charlie eats kernels of popcorn one by one out of his cupped palm.

Charlie and Kristy keep grinning at one another during particular scenes they enjoy. Janine wonders if she should find it infuriating, but then she catches Claudia's eye. Her younger sister nods her head at Kristy and then directs an eyeroll at Janine, who can't help but grin back in return.

After sharing such a moment with Claudia, she can't begrudge Charlie and Kristy theirs.

And then there's an entirely predictable (but also horribly unpredictable) moment which causes both Claudia and Janine to shriek in surprise, and Charlie and Kristy to start laughing.

“Nooooo!” Claudia wails, looking through her fingers at the screen. “No, gross! Oh my god!”

Charlie and Kristy are both shuddering with the effort of keeping quiet so the following dialogue can be heard, and Janine realises that in all the excitement she has clutched hold of Charlie's arm.

She doesn't know what to do. Jerking away from him will only draw attention to the fact that she grabbed him in the first place. She bites her lip and slowly relaxes her grip, but keeps her hand where it is. She looks over at Kristy and Claudia, who are both transfixed by the movie.

After a few minutes the movie is loud again, filled with the confusion of several characters arguing and shouting at one another, instead of the quiet tension and suspense which had been on the screen moments before.

Slowly, Charlie turns his hand so it's palm up, and Janine's fingers rest over his pulse. She can feel it beating steadily, a little faster than it should be.

She glances at Claudia and Kristy again. They're busy watching the movie and dropping handfuls of popcorn into their mouths.

Charlie's eyes never leave the screen, but his hand slowly draws in under Janine's, until her fingers are right over his palm. She can feel calluses from the grip of a bat, and his skin is warm and dry.

Her heart is racing a mile a minute. She wonders if he can tell.

His thumb runs lightly down the line of her first finger, and his fingers curl one by one around hers, until her small hand is caught gently in his large one.

Suddenly she can't smell popcorn anymore – just deodorant, warmth and sweat. It's intoxicating.

“ _Fuck_ this movie!” Claudia says, peering with wide eyes over the edge of the quilt. “Why don't I remember this?”

“Shh!” Kristy says, elbowing her.

Charlie's thumb strokes gently along Janine's finger again, and his knee falls with natural weight and movement to rest against hers.

The next time his thumb moves against her finger, she moves hers too, and she watches a small smile appear on his face. She doesn't think it has anything to do with Jaws, though his eyes haven't left the screen.

She watches the end of the movie rather reluctantly. It comes too soon, and she's not sure she can quite accept the differences between the book and the movie. What's most disappointing, though, is that with the end of the movie comes the end of the secretive hand-holding.

Charlie's fingers slip slowly through hers until they're separate again, and Kristy is already on her feet, stretching with a grin on her face.

“I love that movie,” she says. “Total classic.”

“Total bullshit,” Claudia says. “Thank god it's not summer. I totally get why Dawn wouldn't go swimming after that.”

Kristy cackles, and looks at her watch. “Oh, we gotta go,” she says. She glances at Charlie. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” he says. He offers a hand to Janine, and she takes it and lets him help her up. Kristy and Claudia don't take any notice; they've already moved through to the kitchen, Kristy crowing about her favourite parts, Claudia groaning in response.

“Hey,” Charlie says softly, letting go of Janine's hand again. He gives her a different smile to the one she has come to expect from him; this one is softer and a little shy. “I gotta take off, but I want to hear what you thought of the movie, so – do you want to talk about it another time? Just you and me?”

“I – yes, all right,” Janine says, sounding more surprised than she wants to. “Thank you.” She can feel her face turning red.

He grins. “Okay, great. I'll call you later.”

She nods, trying to catch her breath, because all of a sudden it's very difficult. “All right.”

Charlie and Kristy leave, and the house is quiet again. Janine hopes her face is its normal colour again now that Claudia doesn't have Kristy or the movie for distraction.

“Sorry they kind of crashed our afternoon,” Claudia says, looking guilty. “Maybe we can watch another movie together?”

“Jurassic Park?” Janine suggests, intending for it to sound a little sarcastic.

Claudia's face brightens. “Oh, I have that one! Want to watch it now? I'll go get it.” She thunders up the stairs. Janine watches her go, and she only feels slightly sorry for herself.

 

* * *

 

 


End file.
